[wffurr]

The cable is one of several bottlenecks in the charging system. Existing DC fast chargers already circulate liquid coolant through the charging cable. That's one reason they are so short and heavy.

TBH, it kind of freaks me out to handle even just the 50 kW cables.

From the article:

"Ultimately, charge times will be dependent on the power output ratings of the power supply and charging cable, and the power input rating of the EV’s battery. To obtain a sub-five minute charge, all three components will need to be rated to 2,500 amperes."

[maxerickson]

Yeah, existing cables carry enough energy to boil a kettle in a few seconds, for comparison sake. 2500 amps at 480 volts pushes boiling a liter down to about half a second (so even a large kettle would boil in 2 seconds if you figured out how to just heat the water with the energy).

[akomtu]

If such cable is turned into a coil, the magnetic field from 2500 amps can probably levitate that kettle.

[rightbyte]

I wonder if you could feel the magnetic field around the cable with your watch or jewelry.

[hollerith]

>it kind of freaks me out to handle even just the 50 kW cables

I wonder if anyone has been killed yet by a malfunctioning charging cable.

[jatone]

unlikely. electricity is easier to control safely than gas.

you don't need to start out full blast with electric cables. ramp up over a minute if necessary. we are also well versed in circuit breakers, and digital safety checks.

oh the cable isn't correctly connected? no power.

[wffurr]

How many simultaneous safety system failures are needed for a problem to occur? Multiply the odds of that by the number of charging stations in service worldwide, which is a pretty big number.